Libretty by Jennifer Bullis
Commissioned by Burning River Baroque and Early Music Seattle, with support from 4Culture
Premiere March 19, 2019
Cleveland, OH

Honey-sweet we sing for you endeavors to give a voice to the Sirens, those mythological creatures whose story has always been told by wary men—most famously Homer in The Odyssey. Part lament, part rage aria, this contemporary cantata for soprano and Baroque ensemble features an original libretto by Jennifer Bullis (Bellingham, WA), a powerful feminist poet based who often writes from the perspective of mythological personas. Aaron continues his fascination with period instruments and practices, updating the dramatic conventions of the eighteenth-century cantata to tell this timeless tale with new immediacy and vulnerability. By reframing a very old and familiar narrative about these supposedly dangerous and seductive creatures, Honey-sweet we sing for you challenges its creators and its listeners to reconsider entrenched stories about sexuality and power.